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The two tiny communities of Crystal and Amargosa Valley, out in the Nevada desert northwest of Las Vegas, are most famous for their legal brothels.
Crystal, Nevada
Crystal takes an effort to get to. It’s off NV 160 between Pahrump and Amargosa Junction. Although there are no longer any brothels in town (as of October 2025), Miss Kathy’s Short Branch Saloon is supposedly a fun daytime bar to visit. It’s run by a former madam and popular with bikers passing through the area. The Brothel Art Museum was also an attraction in town but it has been closed since 2011.
Crystal once featured Dennis Hof’s Love Ranch and the Cherry Patch Ranch. Joe Richards founded the Cherry Patch Ranch around 1978 as one of the very first legal brothels in Nye County. Business was so good that he eventually opened Cherry Patch Ranch II down the road. The name later changed several times, first as Mabel’s Ranch, Mabel’s Whorehouse, and finally Madam Butterfly’s.
Dennis Hof (1946-2018), owner of the Moonlight BunnyRanch outside Carson City, purchased all of Richards’ properties in 2010. He renamed Madam Butterfly’s as Dennis Hof’s Love Ranch, but it was shut down by local authorities in 2018 and demolished in November 2024. Cherry Patch Ranch had already closed several years earlier.
Amargosa Valley, Nevada
Amargosa Valley was founded in 1905 and named for the Amargosa River. The Tonopah and Tidewater Railroad ran through the area from 1906 to 1940, but modern development didn’t begin until the 1950s. Electricity wasn’t available until 1963.
Amargosa Valley is large and spread out, but most travelers will pass through Amargosa Junction on US 95. There are a few gas stations, but the one that sticks out the most is the Area 51 Alien Travel Center. It features an alien-themed convenience store, gift shop, and gas pumps. It also hosts the Alien Cathouse, which is a sci-fi themed brothel that offers free tours to anyone over 21. No, we didn’t take the tour!
The Alien Cathouse originally opened as the Shamrock Brothel in the 1970s. Joe Richards purchased it in the 1980s and renamed it Kitty Kat Ranch. In 2014, Richards sold the brothel to Dennis Hof, who then renamed it Alien Cathouse and sold it a month before his death in 2018.
Next door, you can find a branch of Texas-based Alamo Fireworks, which claims to have the “world’s largest firecracker”.
